Duskfire Glacier There are times that walk from you.

Maybe @Meerkat?

Until Lane announced that she was leaving on another trip beyond the glacier, Wayfarer had mostly forgotten about the last time she'd left. She objected, naturally, by being especially clingy and in the way while her mother prepared to leave. Pitiful, she'd whine and lay around underfoot, was probably stepped on a couple of times, but she didn't really know what she was trying to achieve. Delay the medic's departure, perhaps, but it did not really matter - regardless of what she did, Lane would still leave.

She was a whirlwind of emotion when the inevitable happened, and the girl sought privacy at once. Determined not to cry over being left behind again, Wayfarer turned focus to something far easier to deal with than sorrow: anger.

Between her teeth she grasped a large stick, but her bite was not strong enough to demolish it like she imagined she could. Made all the more furious by her useless jaw, the youngster set about stripping the surface bark and gnawing the wood with her molars, figuring a slow destruction was better than nothing.

She returned from answering a call of nature to find Wayfarer destroying a stick. Meerkat bit at her lip as she drifted a little closer, careful not to infringe on the pup's personal space. She had been quite emotional since her mother's departure and the yearling was killing two birds with one stone as far as her counselor trade went when it came to this little one.

Concerned that Wayfarer might break a tooth or injure her gums, Meerkat quietly called out, "Hey, Wayfarer, you wanna practice on a moving target? Wanna spar?"

She growled to herself, furious: at her mother's disregard for her feelings, at being left behind, at the constant uprooting. Wayfarer was tired of being dumped with the mothers of the pack, especially when Dad expected her to play nice with his other kids.

Meerkat, one of the wayward medic's chosen caretakers for her brood, had actually seemed pretty cool when last they met - but Wayfarer presently had no interest in any interaction with her. She regarded the yearling briefly, disinterest in her blue-amber gaze as she looked her way from beneath a furrowed brow before stubbornly turning her face away.

The assault on her stick only intensified.

"I'll take that as a 'no,'" the yearling said good-naturedly, settling back to keep an eye on Wayfarer. She was still worried the girl might injure herself somehow, though she reminded herself that puppies weren't made of grass. She'd learned quite recently that some of them here really pulled no punches...

Wayfarer would be fine, she decided. She just needed some time to work out her feelings by scrapping with the stick. Meerkat certainly empathized and would try to make herself available in whatever way she needed, even if that meant she would just sit back and mind her own business.

At Meerkat's comment, she did feel a little guilty - it wasn't her fault that Mom was being such a jerk and leaving her behind all the time. Wayfarer's frustration outweighed every other emotion, however, and she carried on gnawing her stick with every intention of bringing it to ruin. She stripped bark from the wood and sunk her fangs in deep, growling to herself and holding it firm beneath her oversized paws.

No matter how hard she bit and chewed, however, there was no easing her anger.

Hurt by Lane's selfishness and too impatient to work on the stick any longer, the young Duskfire emitted a long and dramatic "uuuuugggghhh!" With her feet she shoved the branch away and glared after it with narrowed blue-amber eyes, "I hate her!"

Her attention admittedly drifted a little, though Wayfarer's disgusted declaration brought it right back. It was pretty easy to figure out who she meant: her mother, Lane. Meerkat wondered if Wayfarer would embellish, maybe explain why she was so upset. When that wasn't forthcoming, the yearling pondered before deciding not to pry, at least not directly.

Instead, she quipped, "Who? The stick?" She looked over at the discarded chew toy, then back to Wayfarer. "How do you know it's a she?"